Vodafone to sell Apple iPhone in UK from 2010

Without securing the rights to the iPhone, Vodafone faced the prospect of losing hundreds of thousands of its customers to rivals O2 and Orange.

Vittorio Colao, Vodafone's chief executive, has said that not having the iPhone was a key reason why the operator lost 159,000 customers in its latest quarter.

It's hoped that opening up the device to a third mobile operator will lead to a price cut on the iPhone.